Why Professional Growth Prevents Turnover

Naomi is a reporter for TINYpulse, living and breathing everything employee engagement. She does this by always keeping her workstation fully stocked with dark chocolates.

1 Like

Share

When you think about professional growth, what comes to mind? Most people would say developing new skill sets, becoming a leading expert in their field, or perpetually learning from their peers, leaders, and their own mistakes.

In fact, a shortfall of professional growth is one of the top reasons that deplete a company’s employee retention numbers. And sadly, recent data from our Employee Engagement Report shows that only 25% of employees feel they have high levels of professional growth opportunities.

How can it be that these numbers are so low? For one, we found that most employees feel they aren’t putting to use their background knowledge and skills on the job. They feel they could be doing much more with their time in order to reach their full potential.

Also, a majority of employees say they aren’t presented with open discussions about their growth and career opportunities within the company.

Here are a few tips to help you jump-start your employees’ professional growth:

1. Develop a culture of lifelong learning

SOURCE: imgur.com

Ask your employees what skills they would like to develop. Sit down and have a one-on-one conversation with individuals about which areas they would like to grow in. Are there any online classes or continuing education programs that would boost their roles and aid the overall goals of the team?

Here at TINYpulse, we offer a tuition reimbursement program, which incentivizes those who are thinking of furthering their learning.

2. Attend events as a team

SOURCE: reddit.com

Research local conferences, networking, or happy hour events near your office for your team to attend together. Networking can be an intimidating thing to tackle on your own, so make it a group event where your employees will not only gather new insights and contacts but also bond with one another.

3. Create career opportunity from within

SOURCE: tumblr.com

Everyone wants to feel like they have a bright future ahead. Make sure that future isn’t so far on the horizon for each of your employees. When an opportunity opens, check within your team for individuals that have strong leadership skills and character. At the same time, be open about discussing where they would like to grow within the company and set goals for them to reach where they’d like to be headed.

4. Keep the challenge alive and well

SOURCE: giphy.com

Feeling challenged not only sparks better engagement but also professional growth. Delegate new projects to individuals and help them succeed with new tasks and assignments. Don’t be afraid to change things up once in a while by giving different types of projects to your employees.